Research Synthesis 

To begin this research project I first thought about a topic that would be interesting to research. I want to research a topic that I am actually interested in therefore I can engage in the process and actually learn something from it. I began by thinking of a topic of interest and I came up with feminism. In order to narrow down this broad topic I thought about things that are happening recently in the world that would be relevant and have recent information on. I came to the topic of sexism in sports. This is a world wide issue that takes place throughout many sports, if not all of them, and is currently effecting people all over the world. After narrowing down my topic I started the actual research portion. I simply typed into Google “sexism in sports” and came up with a multitude of articles and websites with information on this. One of the things I came across was a Blog called Women in Sport which talked more deeply on this topic and used specific examples such as Lucy Bronze. This source along with the other sources I began with gave me the preliminary information I needed to know in order to continue researching this. Such as examples of specific teams this has effected, how the media plays a huge role in this, the differences in money between men and women, other peoples views on this and whether or not they believe there is sexism in sports, etc. These sources provided me with the foundation for my further research assuring me that there are many more stories to find about sexism in pro sports. After going to class and e-mailing you I learned that I had to narrow down my research significantly. This got me thinking about what exactly I should focus on. One of the sources I used previously spoke about a women’s soccer team which made me remember the fact that US Women’s Soccer Team just won the Women’s FIFA World Cup this year in 2015. I figured this would be perfect topic to research since it is recent and it is a women’s team. Since I had narrowed down the exact sport and team I would like to research I had to think of a question about the topic of sexism that had to do with this team. This was the easy part. These women won the FIFA World Cup and I don’t remember seeing much about it in the media anywhere. Social media, magazines, news on TV, newspapers, news articles online, nothing! That’s when I knew the perfect research question. It is clear that these women did not get the attention they deserved along with other things they didn’t get despite how much they earned it. The question “How did sexism effect the Women’s USA Soccer Team after winning the FIFA World Cup in 2015?” is the question I used to guide my research from here on out. In order to research this I once again used Google and simply typed in “sexism US soccer team.” This gave me many articles and websites that were very insightful. After reading through these articles I found that it is not only me who sees this issue among sports especially within this sport and team. The first article I found was rather positive on the issue stating that the media was very involved in this team much to the surprise of the head coach Jill Ellis. This article focused more on the past and how horrible the media coverage was on the women’s leagues and how now it seems to be getting better one step at a time. The next article I read gave specific numbers as to how much money the male and female members have made in the past and more recently like last year. These numbers provide with hard evidence towards the fact that women do make significantly less money than men in the pro athlete world. This article provided with just another piece of evidence that there if in fact sexism in sports. The next article gave me two important facts from this years Women’s FIFA World Cup. First of all the women were presented with medals by other women and not just any women, models. This in itself is degrading and sexist. Also the fact that they play on turf and not real grass which in turn is very harmful to the players physically and performance wise. The last website I looked at was the most positive of them all. It was filled with tweets and pictures supporting the girls team after their victory including tweets from the President and Vice President of the United States. There were many supportive and congratulatory tweets and picture that I’m sure the women of the US soccer team appreciated very much. Overall, after doing this research I found many more specific effects of sexism on these women than I had originally thought. No matter how much support and congrats these women get, there is still an issue of sexism within sports that has greatly effected these women in many more ways than just their paychecks. This leads me to question why this is still an on-going issue considering it is so widely known. In relation to my research question I now know much more information on just how sexism is prevalent and has effected women of all sports, especially those of the US soccer team. I can now create a working thesis from all the information I have. I believe that the sexism in sports has effected the team members of the US Women’s National Soccer Team before, during, and after their win of the Women’s FIFA World Cup 2015.  I do believe in this statement however I still have some questions around this topic. One question I still have is just how badly it effected them. Is the amount of money they are making really effecting them so much that it is effecting their way of living? How much money are they really making and is it not enough to sustain a good life? While I do have these questions there is not doubt that sexism exists in sports and no matter how much money the women make if it is not the same or close to the amount of the men, it just simply isn’t fair.